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# Enigmatic Books

#### by Eric Grove-Stephensen

The copyright of this article remains with the original author. Articles may be copied or distributed freely for personal non-profit use, provided that the author is properly credited.

These rules draw heavily on the Hermetic Numerology section in Kabbalah (p144-5).

Enigmatic Books are not books directly on the Enigma, but books on other subjects, which have been written with added, Enigmatic, insights. These are usually contained within the normal text but may be contained within bizarre illustrations, or even sounds, if the book is enchanted.

### Writing an Enigmatic Book

When writing any book the author may choose to include Enigmas within the work. The maximum level of Enigmas is equal to the Enigmatic Wisdom of the author. This is the Enigmatic Quality of the work.

### Reading an Enigmatic Book

When studying an Enigmatic Book the reader may choose one of three options. The second and third options are only available to readers with Enigmatic Wisdom.

Firstly, he may attempt to ignore the Enigmatic parts of the work. In this instance, the Enigmatic Quality acts as a negative modifier to the work's Quality. Thus a work with a normal Quality of 10 and an Enigmatic Quality of 4 would have an effective Quality of 6.

Secondly, he may study the normal subject of the work, attempting to gain from the Enigmatic insights of the author. Refer to the Enigmatic Study table below, adding the relevant Study bonus to the reader's Study Total.

Thirdly, he may study the work for the Enigmatic Wisdom within it. The work acts as a Tractatus on Enigmatic Wisdom, with Quality equal to the author's Int + Scribe. Create a Study Total as normal. Then refer to the Enigmatic Study table below, adding the relevant Study bonus to the reader's Study Total.

### Enigmatic Study Table

Roll stress die + Int + Enigmatic Wisdom + Twilight Points + Enigmatic Quality.

Roll | Result Botch | Confusion (see below)
0 or less | Gain minor mental deficiency and lose season's work
1-3 | Lose season's work
4-6 | Learn nothing extra, ie. gain experience from a normally created Study Total
7-9 | Reader adds +1 to his Study Total
10-12 | Reader adds +2 to his Study Total
13-15 | Reader adds +3 to his Study Total
16-18 | Reader adds +5 to his Study Total
19-23 | Reader adds +8 to his Study Total
24+ | Twilight

If the reader rolls a potential Botch, the number of Botch dice equals the Enigmatic Quality of the book. Each Botch results in one level of utter befuddlement in the subject of the text (whether he studied it for that subject or Enigmatic Wisdom). Before the reader can gain any more experience from any source in the subject of the text, he must spend one season in reorientation per level of utter befuddlement. Additionally, all botch dice when using the subject of the text are doubled until the befuddlement is cleared.

Reorientation does not require the use of a specific text, just some deep thoughts and re-calculations. For each season of reorientation, the reader gains one experience point in Enigmatic Wisdom.